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The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1905 no. 155

The bulletin of Atlanta University

NUMBER 155 ATLANTA, GEORGIA MAY, 1905 For statement of the work of Atlanta University see last page. COMMENCEMENT FEATURES The public day at the Oglethorpe School, Friday, May 26. The address of Rev. William H. Weaver, D. D., before the Phi Kappa society, Friday night. The baccalaureate sermon by President Bumstead, on Sunday. The class night exercises, a presentation of Shakespeare's Merchant of Ven-ice, Monday night. The tenth annual conference on Tuesday. See fuller notice in another column. The alumni business meeting, public exercises and banquet, Wednesday night. The graduation exercises Thursday forenoon, with Commencement address by L. M. Hershaw, Esq. ('86), of Washington, D. C. The president's reception, Thursday night. AN ATLANTA GRADUATE IN CHATTANOOGA We take the following from a recent issue of the Chicago Advance, about Atlanta University in general, and Rev. Joseph E. Smith ('76) of Chattanooga, in particular. It is interesting to note that Mr. Smith has been a member of the city school board in Chattanooga for thirteen years. Atlanta University is a school of which any people might be proud. It occupies one of the finest and most commanding sites in Atlanta, and Atlanta has more spendid building sites than any other city in the South, not to say the whole country. Its students come from far and near, and its work goes far to solve the problems of the day. At Chattanooga is a church where an Atlanta student has been pastor for more than twenty years. He has just taken his people into a splendid new building, and they are a fine, strong looking people. I heard the Democratic mayor of the city deliver an address to them. It was one of the best talks of the kind I ever heard, religious and brotherly. Among other things the mayor said that he had more than once remarked that their pastor, "Joe" Smith as they call him, was one of the most useful citizens in Chattanooga. He has served in an official capacity and has always been found true to public interests. THE TENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE This will convene on Tuesday of Commencement week. The subject will be, Methods and Results of Ten Years' Study of the Negro. The points to be especially discussed are, reasons for systematic study, fields of study and methods of cooperation, and methods of future study. Among the speakers expected are Prof. Walter F. Willcox of Cornell University, Pres. B. M. Nyce of Talladega College, Miss Frances Kellor of New York, of the Inter-municipal Committee on Household Research, Pres. Frank Woodworth of Tougaloo University, Miss Mary W. Ovington of Columbia University, Mr. W. T. B. Williams of the General Educational Board, and Prof. T. J. Jones of Hampton Institute. The annual mothers' meeting will also be held, in connection with the sessions of the conference. WHO ARE ITS MEMBERS? In the American Missionary for May is an article by Rev. H. H. Proctor of this city concerning his church, the First Congregational. He gives an interesting account of its good work. The membership of the church is about 550. We quote the following, as to who these members are and what they are doing. The members of this church were inspired with a passion for the education of their children, and it is considered a disgrace for any of our number not to educate their children. Of the members of the church nearly one hundred are graduates either of normal or college grades; 136 are students. Perhaps less than a dozen of the members are wholly illiterate. Industry was another of the things urged as an element of character, and today there is not one loafer in this church. They are all doing something. Their occupations are as follows: students, 136; housewives, 123; teachers, 43; household servants, 42; porters, 30; government employees, 23; seamstresses, 12; waiters, 7; cooks, 7; carpenters,6; tailors, 6; barbers, 5; contractors, 4; laundresses, 4; merchants, 4; blacksmiths, 4; trained nurses, 4; shoemakers, 3; physicians, 3; hostlers, 3; bricklayers, 2; insurance agents, 2; butlers, 2; clerks, 2; ministers, 2; men-of-all-work, 2; packers, 2; while the following are represented by one each: plasterer, piano tuner, printer, dentist, restaurateur, photographer, washerwoman, drayman, jeweler, picture framer, butcher, baker, hackman, artist, carr riage maker, and driver. NEGRO CRIME Atlanta University has just published the report of the Ninth Annual Conference on Negro crime. The report is concise (viii, 68 pages, with index and bibliography) and does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather to indicate present sources of knowledge of Negro Crime, and certain reasons for crime, particularly in the state of Georgia. The report is edited by W. E. Burghardt Du-Bois and has contributions from Frank B. Sanborn, Esq., M. N. Work, Rev. H. H. Proctor and others; After a short general opening by Mr. Sanborn the report reviews the connection of Negro crime and slavery and shows how in reconstruction days the convict-lease system was used as a method of forced labor. The census figures are then analyzed for 1870, 1880 and 1890 and it is pointed out in the words of Dr. R. P. Falkner that: If the amount of crime means the ratio between the offenses committed in a given year and the population at that time, the census volume fails to give us a correct idea of crime in the United States : 1. Because it furnishes no basis for a calculation of the increase of crime. 2. Because in depicting the geographical distribution of crime, it favors one locality at the expense of another. 3.' Because it exaggerates the number of the male sex in the aggerate of crime. 4. Because it assigns to the Negroes a larger, and to the foreign-born white a smaller, share in the total of crime than belongs to each. 5. Because it distorts the picture of the relative frequency of different classes of crime. The conclusion as to the extent of Negro crime in 1890 is that the American Negro forming one-eighth of the population was responsible for a little less than one-fifth of the crime; that the South furnishes less Negro crime in proportion to Negro population than the North because the communities South are largely rural; that the chief Negro offences are petty pilfering, quarreling and fighting, and that illiterate Negroes furnish more criminals than those who read and write. As this latter point has been at times disputed, conclusive evidence and statistics are adduced to prove it beyond question. Continued on page 4.

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NUMBER 155 ATLANTA, GEORGIA MAY, 1905 For statement of the work of Atlanta University see last page. COMMENCEMENT FEATURES The public day at the Oglethorpe School, Friday, May 26. The address of Rev. William H. Weaver, D. D., before the Phi Kappa society, Friday night. The baccalaureate sermon by President Bumstead, on Sunday. The class night exercises, a presentation of Shakespeare's Merchant of Ven-ice, Monday night. The tenth annual conference on Tuesday. See fuller notice in another column. The alumni business meeting, public exercises and banquet, Wednesday night. The graduation exercises Thursday forenoon, with Commencement address by L. M. Hershaw, Esq. ('86), of Washington, D. C. The president's reception, Thursday night. AN ATLANTA GRADUATE IN CHATTANOOGA We take the following from a recent issue of the Chicago Advance, about Atlanta University in general, and Rev. Joseph E. Smith ('76) of Chattanooga, in particular. It is interesting to note that Mr. Smith has been a member of the city school board in Chattanooga for thirteen years. Atlanta University is a school of which any people might be proud. It occupies one of the finest and most commanding sites in Atlanta, and Atlanta has more spendid building sites than any other city in the South, not to say the whole country. Its students come from far and near, and its work goes far to solve the problems of the day. At Chattanooga is a church where an Atlanta student has been pastor for more than twenty years. He has just taken his people into a splendid new building, and they are a fine, strong looking people. I heard the Democratic mayor of the city deliver an address to them. It was one of the best talks of the kind I ever heard, religious and brotherly. Among other things the mayor said that he had more than once remarked that their pastor, "Joe" Smith as they call him, was one of the most useful citizens in Chattanooga. He has served in an official capacity and has always been found true to public interests. THE TENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE This will convene on Tuesday of Commencement week. The subject will be, Methods and Results of Ten Years' Study of the Negro. The points to be especially discussed are, reasons for systematic study, fields of study and methods of cooperation, and methods of future study. Among the speakers expected are Prof. Walter F. Willcox of Cornell University, Pres. B. M. Nyce of Talladega College, Miss Frances Kellor of New York, of the Inter-municipal Committee on Household Research, Pres. Frank Woodworth of Tougaloo University, Miss Mary W. Ovington of Columbia University, Mr. W. T. B. Williams of the General Educational Board, and Prof. T. J. Jones of Hampton Institute. The annual mothers' meeting will also be held, in connection with the sessions of the conference. WHO ARE ITS MEMBERS? In the American Missionary for May is an article by Rev. H. H. Proctor of this city concerning his church, the First Congregational. He gives an interesting account of its good work. The membership of the church is about 550. We quote the following, as to who these members are and what they are doing. The members of this church were inspired with a passion for the education of their children, and it is considered a disgrace for any of our number not to educate their children. Of the members of the church nearly one hundred are graduates either of normal or college grades; 136 are students. Perhaps less than a dozen of the members are wholly illiterate. Industry was another of the things urged as an element of character, and today there is not one loafer in this church. They are all doing something. Their occupations are as follows: students, 136; housewives, 123; teachers, 43; household servants, 42; porters, 30; government employees, 23; seamstresses, 12; waiters, 7; cooks, 7; carpenters,6; tailors, 6; barbers, 5; contractors, 4; laundresses, 4; merchants, 4; blacksmiths, 4; trained nurses, 4; shoemakers, 3; physicians, 3; hostlers, 3; bricklayers, 2; insurance agents, 2; butlers, 2; clerks, 2; ministers, 2; men-of-all-work, 2; packers, 2; while the following are represented by one each: plasterer, piano tuner, printer, dentist, restaurateur, photographer, washerwoman, drayman, jeweler, picture framer, butcher, baker, hackman, artist, carr riage maker, and driver. NEGRO CRIME Atlanta University has just published the report of the Ninth Annual Conference on Negro crime. The report is concise (viii, 68 pages, with index and bibliography) and does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather to indicate present sources of knowledge of Negro Crime, and certain reasons for crime, particularly in the state of Georgia. The report is edited by W. E. Burghardt Du-Bois and has contributions from Frank B. Sanborn, Esq., M. N. Work, Rev. H. H. Proctor and others; After a short general opening by Mr. Sanborn the report reviews the connection of Negro crime and slavery and shows how in reconstruction days the convict-lease system was used as a method of forced labor. The census figures are then analyzed for 1870, 1880 and 1890 and it is pointed out in the words of Dr. R. P. Falkner that: If the amount of crime means the ratio between the offenses committed in a given year and the population at that time, the census volume fails to give us a correct idea of crime in the United States : 1. Because it furnishes no basis for a calculation of the increase of crime. 2. Because in depicting the geographical distribution of crime, it favors one locality at the expense of another. 3.' Because it exaggerates the number of the male sex in the aggerate of crime. 4. Because it assigns to the Negroes a larger, and to the foreign-born white a smaller, share in the total of crime than belongs to each. 5. Because it distorts the picture of the relative frequency of different classes of crime. The conclusion as to the extent of Negro crime in 1890 is that the American Negro forming one-eighth of the population was responsible for a little less than one-fifth of the crime; that the South furnishes less Negro crime in proportion to Negro population than the North because the communities South are largely rural; that the chief Negro offences are petty pilfering, quarreling and fighting, and that illiterate Negroes furnish more criminals than those who read and write. As this latter point has been at times disputed, conclusive evidence and statistics are adduced to prove it beyond question. Continued on page 4.